Teasdale Quality Foods, which cans beans and hominy just east of Highway 99, has renamed itself as part of a merger with bean companies in Colorado and Illinois.

The new company, Teasdale Foods, will be headquartered in Atwater and continue to employ 125 people here, spokesman John Segale said Thursday.

It will continue to run the Zateca Foods plant in Greeley, Colo., and the Hoopeston Foods plant in Hoopeston, Ill., which Teasdale Quality Foods bought last year. The workforce across the three sites totals about 350 people.

The hominy and many of the bean products are aimed at a Latino food and beverage market in the United States that is projected to grow from $8 billion in sales last year to $11 billion in 2017, according to the Packaged Facts consumer research firm.

“We are very excited about the future prospects of our aggressively growing company,” said Alberto Bandera, chief executive officer at Teasdale Foods, in a news release.

Teasdale is part of the portfolio of Palladium Equity Partners, based in New York City.

Teasdale, which dates to the 1930s, cans pinto, peruano, garbanzo, kidney and black beans in Atwater, using crops grown mostly in the Central Valley. The products include whole and refried beans, along with the Aunt Penny’s organic line.

Teasdale hominy – dried corn that is soaked after the outer shell is removed – goes into Mexican foods such as menudo, pozole and masa, as well as grits and other Southern dishes.

Zateca, which started in 1992, produces precooked, dry beans in whole, granule and powder forms, as well as peas and lentils. Hoopeston, founded in 1995, makes dozens of canned bean products, including some for Mexican, Middle Eastern and Southern cuisines.

The release said Teasdale Foods will be among the nation’s largest producers of hominy and beans. The products are sold under various labels through retail and food-service outlets.

Another major refried bean producer is in Oakdale, where ConAgra operates under the Rosarita label. The site also handles tomatoes, which are by far the largest canning industry in the valley.